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July 24, 2024 14 mins

Over the last few weeks, Tauranga residents have been able to vote in their first local election since the city council was replaced with commissioners at the end of 2020.  

Preliminary results are in, and in a landslide result, former Olympic rower Mahé Drysdale is expected to become the city’s new Mayor.  

For this bonus episode of On the Tiles: Local Edition, he catches up with Georgina ahead of the final results to discuss what’s next for the city.  

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Kyoda and welcome to On the Tiles, the Herald's politics podcast.
I'm Georgina Campbell and this is a local edition episode.
Over the last few weeks, Todonga residents have been able
to vote in their first local election since the city
council was replaced with commissioners at the end of twenty twenty.

(00:25):
Preliminary results are in and in a landslide result, former
Olympic rower Mahe Drysdale is expected to become the city's
new mayor. For this bonus episode of On the Tiles
Local Edition, I caught up with him ahead of the
final results to discuss what's next for the city. Firstly,

(00:48):
congratulations on your election result, Mahe. What did you do
to celebrate on election night?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, it was a little bit crazy, to be fair.
You get a phone call and so only the job begins,
so a lot of media and then just caught up
with some family and friends and some of the people
that you helped me get elected. So bit of a
bit of a celebration and then it was very much
into it next morning, straight straight onto the office and

(01:18):
figuring out what all this means.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
So has it sunk in now? Would you say that
You're going to be the next mayor of Titongen.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah, I think it's sunk in. Yeah, the realization of
you know what have I got myself in for. It's
a big job ahead, but I'm really excited about the opportunity,
and you know, met most of my fellow counselors and
pretty exciting. I think of everyone wanting the best for
the city of Totnga, and I'm very hopeful that we're

(01:49):
going to be able to deliver on that promise.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yes, and obviously the city has been without an elected
council for some time now. I know that people in
this that we want to avoid a repeat of what
led to commissioners taking over the council. How are you
going to make sure that your counsel is different?

Speaker 2 (02:10):
I think the first thing is the team approach. So
that's what I've been very focused on this week, building
that team, trying to figure out what between us all
sort of common themes and common visions and so you know,
that's that's what we're still working on. But you know,
as we sort of come together, it's it's forming a

(02:32):
shared vision of where we want to get to and
then kind of making that plan of how we're going
to get there. And you know, there's obviously everyone's got
different priorities as to what they want to achieve, but
some of them are in similar veins. So it's you know,
just just really formulating that together. And I think you know,
as I said, from the discussions we've had so far,

(02:54):
you know, everyone just wants the best for the city
and they want to see it succeed. So you know,
that's it's a really good starting place that you know,
everyone's prepared to leave their egos and agendas at the
door and you know, just deliver what's best for the city.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
And obviously it's early days, but can you give some
examples of where you can see some alignment around that
council table on particular issues or ways to address them.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
I think you know, generally people see what what the
issues are and these are these have come from the campaign,
and you know everyone understands that that. You know, we've
got massive infrastructure deficit that we've we've got to deliver.
There's traffic and transport issues. You know, we need to
find a way to solve housing because you know we're

(03:42):
short on houses and houses that are the most unaffordable
in this city. So I think those general themes have
come through from from everyone and it's just kind of
more the conversations we've got to got to have as
we see this as an issue, but how we're going
to because we just don't have enough money to do everything?

(04:04):
So how are we going to prioritize that? Is there
ways we can do this with you know, some some
changes that we can deliver more for that same budget.
So I think I think there's some good opportunities there
just to get that value for money of that spend there.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
And you have a personal mandate as the mayor with
what is shaping up to be a landslide victory, what
are your sort of top three policies that you want
to implement during your term.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
I think for me, the biggest thing as on one
of ten boats around the table. So that's really clear that,
you know, I don't really bring any mandate to be
able to say we're gonna we're going to do this,
we're going to do that, We're going to you know,
any or anything else, but you know, some of those
things I've spoken about, I really just want to get

(04:57):
out there and start delivering and making sure that we
get stuff done. Uh. You know, I want to make
it easier for people to deal with the counsel and
to get stuff done. But we're only going to do
that by being a team with ourselves, you know, being
a team with the other council staff, being a team
with the community. So we're delivering what they want and

(05:18):
getting alongside central government and uh and you know again
saying look we are the can do counsel and we're
going to help you solve a lot of your issues
while we solve ours. Let's work together and you know,
really deliver. So you know, that's very much. I guess
how I see this, and you know I guess from
me personally. You know what I'd love to say is

(05:39):
in four years time, people go man tearing. It is
an example of a council that's that's doing a great job.
You know, that's really you know, where where i'd like
to get to. And I'm you know, quietly confident that
we can get there with the team we've got and
you know, people's attitudes which is fantastic.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
And as you've said, money is tight. So in terms
of you know, spending money wisely being careful with it,
are there any strategies at this point as to what
that might actually look like.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yeah, I think for me it's really key is that
value for money. So you know how I look at
things is, you know, there's a lot of things we want,
but you know, does it make sense at that price?
You know that that it's delivering value for the residents
and and rate payers of the city, So you know,

(06:34):
that's very much. I guess how I look at it
on the lens and you know, bike paths all over
the city at ten million may may make sense, but
at billion dollars they don't, you know. So so that's
the sort of you know, the lens that I bring
to the table, and you know, it's just trying to
make those decisions, make good decisions. And then if something
that you think this is actually really important, but where

(06:55):
you know, at the moment it's too expensive, how can
we you know, what sort of misers do we need
to make to deliver that? With you maybe ninety percent
of what we want, you know, taking out the nice
to haves, but still gives that functionality that we need.
So I guess that's how I see it at the moment.
But again, you know, it's it's about sitting around that

(07:17):
table and together delivering with the team.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
I'm not sure if you've had a chance to look
at the council books so to speak, but obviously the
big story for local councils this year has been their
dismal finances. Things are really tight, rates increases are high.
Are you nervous about seeing the full extent of totong
a city Council's box And if you have already seen it,

(07:53):
what did you make of it?

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Well, we've seen the long term plan, we've seen the
Prayer election report, so now I haven't seen the final numbers. Look,
it's a problem we're facing right across the country. Both
central government local government costs have risen dramatically. You know,
things are just costing a lot to build and you know, unfortunately,

(08:16):
I think the local body system of relying on the
rate payers is not a is not a sustainable one.
So you know that's where we've got to get a
little bit innovative. You know, rates are going to rise,
that's just a fact, and you know that's happening right
across the country. But you know, our job is to try,
I guess, you know, get that value for money so
that they're not out of control, but we're very aware

(08:42):
of what people are facing and it's tough out there
across the board. So as a council we've got to
sort of, i guess, lead by example and tighten our
belts and you know, show that we can start delivering
some better value for money.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
And one of the things that cropped up on the
campaign trail was that you do not live in total
on a city. Will you be moving there now that
you're going to be the mayor and if so, when
can we expect that to happen?

Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yes, So basically, our kids are at school till the
end of the year and once they finished then we'll
look to move over here. And you know, there's another
whole more more from my mott wife's perspective, but you know,
just just finding new schools and houses and and sort

(09:34):
of making ourselves at home is the next challenge on
the horizon. And as we know, if the most expensive
houses are in New Zealand's that's not it's not an
easy challenge.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
Can the counsel do anything about the fact that, you know,
housing in total is so expensive. Do you have any
views on how the council can help with that issue?

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Well, I'm I'm I guess, you know, from a financial background,
so I look at it from an economic lens that
it's a supply and demand thing. So you know, what
can we do as council, Well, we can help from
the supply side of things and make it easier for
people to deliver houses, because if we deliver more houses generally,

(10:19):
then you increase the supply and prices come down. But
you know there's also I think the government you have
a big role to play, and they're doing their part
with you know, trying to make the RMA a little
bit easier to navigate, you know, bringing in building materials
from other countries so we sort of get rid of

(10:41):
that monopoly on materials in this country, and you know,
little things like that, just just cutting some of the
red tape and delivering infrastructure projects. I've heard you know,
traffic management can be up to forty percent of that
cost for delivering that, so you know it's sort of
you know around those edges, can is there places we
can save a bit of money and and make things

(11:03):
a bit easier for people, So so we can deliver
and you know, we're going to have to probably have
some density here as well, because you know, we asked
done to run out of land.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
And just on the makeup of your counsel, only one
woman has been voted onto total in a city council.
Are you disappointed with that? And why do you think
that's happened?

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yeah, it's it is a bit disappointing, to be honest,
because you know, there was some some fantastic female candidates
out there, and you know, I guess that's just a
little bit of the intricacies of voting. And you know,
thankfully Jen who is is the counselor, that's a female.

(11:45):
She's a very capable and you know, is a is
a fantastic candidate. So she'll certainly be representing the female
side very very adequately throughout her term.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
And finally, you've got four years as mayor before the
next local body election. It's something some councils and even
central government could only dream of, that four year term.
How do you think having that extra year will help
and what do you hope total it will look like
in twenty twenty eight.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, so I think it's fantastic, you know, and I
think a lot of the issues that local bodies face
is that under investment, because you know, we want to
keep the ratepayer happy for three years so that you know,
you get voted in again, and sometimes that means you
don't make the big calls that need to be done.

(12:40):
So I think we've got to take a longer term
view and you know, obviously educate people a little bit
better as to what we're doing and why, so that
they understand some of those big decisions. And you know,
what do I want to see to longa look like
in four years? Well, for me, success is one. We've

(13:02):
done a great job around the council table. We worked
at this team and started to deliver for the residents.
But you know, secondly, I think when we look at
the city, we say, you know, this city is isn't
a better place And it's a better city than you
know when we started today. And I'm very excited about
what's going on here because there's a lot a lot happening.

(13:25):
The CBDs being revitalized and that's going to be the
real heart of our city. And hopefully, you know, this
city is going to be fantastic in the future. But
you know, we'll have a little bit of a hand
in the next four years, but you know, it's it's
going to take going to take probably another ten to

(13:47):
fifteen at least until we can can see you know,
the city in being the best city in New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
Thanks so much for joining us, and congratulations again on
your result.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
That's it for this episode of On the Tiles Local edition.
You can read more politicsnews at ziherld dot co dot NZID.
On the Tiles is produced by Ethan Sells Patty Fox
as the sound engineer. I'm Georgina Campbell. Subscribe to On
the Tiles on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts,

(14:23):
and you can tune in on Fridays for the latest episode.
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